When you need to visualize information quickly and accurately, screenshots are one of the best tools at your disposal. Whether you’re writing a blog post, creating a presentation, or even just illustrating an article in a magazine, they provide a quick and easy way to communicate your message visually.
But deciding which screenshot tool is the best for you can be tricky. Some offer a range of features, while others focus on specific needs like capturing scrolling pages or offering advanced editing options. So to help you find the perfect fit for your needs, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite tools below.
A great option for users who want to create high-quality screenshots without sacrificing speed, Droplr is an easy to use online tool with plenty of customization options. The software offers the ability to take screenshots of your entire screen, a window, or a custom region and edit them with a variety of annotation and arrow tools. There are also some handy extras like blur, highlight and stamp options as well as the ability to resize and crop your screenshots.
The free version of this screenshot tool includes a watermark on your images but you can remove the mark with a subscription plan. CleanShot X is also available as part of the Setapp subscription, which gives you access to more than 230 Mac and iOS apps for just $9.99 per month. In addition to letting you snap the screen and edit it with multiple types of annotation and arrows, CleanShot also lets you capture scrolling windows, which is an excellent feature if you need to illustrate long web pages.
ScreenTray is another free best screenshot tool with basic functionality that will get the job done. You can easily capture a selected area, crop unnecessary pieces, and add comments. The tool is also fully customizable, with the option to customize hotkeys and file naming.
While the UI is simple and easy to understand, it does have a few drawbacks. For one, it doesn’t let you map the keystroke to capture a particular mouse button, which can be a problem in some programs where that particular action is used for other purposes (e.g., a game that requires the middle mouse button for actions).
This screenshot tool is designed to be fast and lightweight, and it does deliver on those expectations. It has a very small footprint and is compatible with most versions of Windows. It’s also very easy to use, with minimal learning curve required.
Snagit is a highly-respected program that’s used by professionals for all kinds of tasks. Its main strengths include the ability to grab scrolling screenshots and the fact that it’s able to integrate with many of the most popular collaboration apps. It also allows you to snip text from an image and is portable for use on other PCs. Snagit is a paid tool, but there are discounts and a trial period available. It’s also available on Linux.